It's off on an adventure we go!
Friday, December 16, 2016
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Breaking Up The Tension
Stinker is a tense horse and his go to reaction is to lock up and plow forward. I don't mind this reaction because it is infinitely easier to ride than a horse that spins or my least favorite starts going backwards, but it is a kiss of death when it comes to dressage. Slowly I am learning ways to help break up the tension so I can keep him working over his back.
- I need to raise my expectations. He needs to start stretching over his top line immediately instead of me letting him dink around for 20 minutes.
- Don't worry about which gait he is in, but insist he stays over his back. No more inverted giraffe. When he does trot, keep it small.
- Use haunches in and shoulder in on a circle to keep him from locking up.
- I need to sit to the right going both directions. He likes to dump me to the left.
- Keep asking him to flip his crest to the right all the way up to the poll. Since his right hind is weaker, he carries tension in his poll.
- Keep feeling in my elbows. I give too much and lose the contact which causes him to bounce up. If I can keep my elbows heavy he is much more willing to stay over his back.
- When traveling to the right swap diagonals every five or six strides. This helps to lighten the load on his weaker hind and he stays softer.
- Lateral work is my best friend.
- My corrections need to be quicker. Make them more quickly and do not hang in them.
He is chewing on my hat...It basically sums up our relationship
A lot of our problems stem from my lack of timing (story of my life). As I mentioned on Monday, I tend to settle for "good enough" when the reality is it isn't good enough any more. I need to make sure I am still stepping up my game to match his progress. I also tend to hang in the aids too much. I get stuck in a grey area that doesn't do either of us any good. I need to make the correction and go back to neutral and then be quicker in making another correction.
I also want to give too much when he does soften. I am giving three inches instead of half an inch. When I give this much my elbow comes too far forward and I lose the heaviness in it and my hands no longer feel soft and following to him. And of course he pops off the contact.
The bottom line is I need to step up my riding game now that I have the tools to break up his tension.
Monday, December 12, 2016
Who Is Training Whom?
This weekend my favorite dressage judge was in town and as usual it was a very productive weekend. One of the big themes of the weekend was I can not let Stinker just cruise around. When he was over reactive and not in a good mental place I needed to stay very still and soft and let him figure things out. Now that is not the case.
Stinker is in a very good place now, both mentally and physically. He trusts me and even when I put the pressure on he may get frazzled but it is different now. Now that he is in a different place I need to change my mindset too. Unfortunately, he has done a good job of training me. I am too soft and too willing to let things be good enough.
When he gets tense and frazzled I need to immediately get him to stretch down and access his back. When he is good, I need to put the pressure on and try new things. I also need to keep him in my elbow at all times. Right now I tend to give too much and leave him to his own devices too much.
I'll get into the nitty gritty details later, but for now I need to remember I am supposed to be training him instead of him training me.
The one with the hat is in charge...
Stinker is in a very good place now, both mentally and physically. He trusts me and even when I put the pressure on he may get frazzled but it is different now. Now that he is in a different place I need to change my mindset too. Unfortunately, he has done a good job of training me. I am too soft and too willing to let things be good enough.
When he gets tense and frazzled I need to immediately get him to stretch down and access his back. When he is good, I need to put the pressure on and try new things. I also need to keep him in my elbow at all times. Right now I tend to give too much and leave him to his own devices too much.
He has me well trained with this face
I'll get into the nitty gritty details later, but for now I need to remember I am supposed to be training him instead of him training me.
Friday, December 9, 2016
ASSFS Blog Hop: Location, Location, Location
Since I have been enjoying these posts so much, I decided to share my information. I am on the gulf coast about 30-45 minutes from the actual beach.
I honestly don't know the costs of quite a few of these or they are solely based on me, because when I moved here I didn't have a horse and once I did have a horse I knew where I was keeping him.
Board- $485 (Stall) This includes everything (blanketing, twice a day feeding, little extra care things). In addition to that we have a full sized dressage ring, a small dressage ring, a jump field with enough jumps to do full courses through prelim, cross country in two fields including a water jump, banks, and a ditch (full courses step over stuff through novice and a few training/prelim). There are also trails most of them are 20ish minutes but I have figured out how to connect a few loops with minimal backtracking to add up to around 50 minutes. I also really really love the turnout. The horses are outside at night (16ish hours) from April to October/November and then during the winter they are out for 8-9 hours.
Full Training-??? I honestly don't know of any place that has full training.
Hay-??? I don't know the cost of this one either. I do know that you can buy alfalfa that is hauled in from somewhere out west for $24 for a 100 pound bale. We have costal hay which I think sucks, but it is what is available. I have been supplementing with timothy pellets to help keep the weight on Stinker.
Shoes/Trims- I only know the cost of our farrier, who I know is the most expensive in the area but he is worth it. I think trims are $40 and Stinker's full set of shoes are $185. He gets hot shod and I know it goes up from there if pads are involved.
Weather...
Hot as balls. The kicker down here is the humidity and the fact that you can only take off so many layers before you get arrested for public indecency. The temperatures mainly stay in the mid 90s during the summer, but when you factor in the humidity is is typically in the mid 100s. Anhidrosis is a major problem and we have several horses that have it in the barn. There really isn't a spring or a fall which makes me sad. We get quite a bit of rain but the soil is sandy so it handles the rain a lot. Hurricanes can hit here, but I am really hoping I will move before that happens. The winter is nice, despite the humidity making it feel way colder than it actually is. But the summers suck and are really miserable. I really don't know why anyone colonized this area before the invention of air conditioning.
Riding Demographic
There is a pretty good mix of things. There are lots of people that do western (speed events and the pleasure classes). There are hunter jumpers in the area along with the eventers. There isn't a ton of straight dressage right here, but within a couple hours there are more people that do straight dressage. But you can find whatever you want in this area. We do have one tack store and it mostly caters to the English crowd.
Frustrating Things About The Area
There aren't very many good instructors in the area. S is one of the few that regularly competes and she is totally dependent on clinics for instruction (most of which she has to set up, while teaching a full schedule and taking care of a 25 stall barn). Basically, S is super woman.
Nice Things About This Area.
The people are amazing. The cost of living is super cheap (basically the only reason I can afford a horse). I really adore my barn and the people that come with it. If you can block out the summer months the weather is nice.
I honestly don't know the costs of quite a few of these or they are solely based on me, because when I moved here I didn't have a horse and once I did have a horse I knew where I was keeping him.
Water jump when we were in a drought (it comes with a duck too)
Board- $485 (Stall) This includes everything (blanketing, twice a day feeding, little extra care things). In addition to that we have a full sized dressage ring, a small dressage ring, a jump field with enough jumps to do full courses through prelim, cross country in two fields including a water jump, banks, and a ditch (full courses step over stuff through novice and a few training/prelim). There are also trails most of them are 20ish minutes but I have figured out how to connect a few loops with minimal backtracking to add up to around 50 minutes. I also really really love the turnout. The horses are outside at night (16ish hours) from April to October/November and then during the winter they are out for 8-9 hours.
Full Training-??? I honestly don't know of any place that has full training.
Hay-??? I don't know the cost of this one either. I do know that you can buy alfalfa that is hauled in from somewhere out west for $24 for a 100 pound bale. We have costal hay which I think sucks, but it is what is available. I have been supplementing with timothy pellets to help keep the weight on Stinker.
Field where a galloping path is cut during the summer
Shoes/Trims- I only know the cost of our farrier, who I know is the most expensive in the area but he is worth it. I think trims are $40 and Stinker's full set of shoes are $185. He gets hot shod and I know it goes up from there if pads are involved.
Weather...
Hot as balls. The kicker down here is the humidity and the fact that you can only take off so many layers before you get arrested for public indecency. The temperatures mainly stay in the mid 90s during the summer, but when you factor in the humidity is is typically in the mid 100s. Anhidrosis is a major problem and we have several horses that have it in the barn. There really isn't a spring or a fall which makes me sad. We get quite a bit of rain but the soil is sandy so it handles the rain a lot. Hurricanes can hit here, but I am really hoping I will move before that happens. The winter is nice, despite the humidity making it feel way colder than it actually is. But the summers suck and are really miserable. I really don't know why anyone colonized this area before the invention of air conditioning.
Riding Demographic
There is a pretty good mix of things. There are lots of people that do western (speed events and the pleasure classes). There are hunter jumpers in the area along with the eventers. There isn't a ton of straight dressage right here, but within a couple hours there are more people that do straight dressage. But you can find whatever you want in this area. We do have one tack store and it mostly caters to the English crowd.
We even have minis
Frustrating Things About The Area
There aren't very many good instructors in the area. S is one of the few that regularly competes and she is totally dependent on clinics for instruction (most of which she has to set up, while teaching a full schedule and taking care of a 25 stall barn). Basically, S is super woman.
Nice Things About This Area.
The people are amazing. The cost of living is super cheap (basically the only reason I can afford a horse). I really adore my barn and the people that come with it. If you can block out the summer months the weather is nice.
Jump Field
Overall, I am really happy with where I am. Although you might want to ask me again ing the summer that might change. It isn't somewhere I would say move for horses (it is fairly far to get to recognized shows) but if you end up in this area due to life it isn't so bad.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
No Vacation For You!
My horse is an asshole when he is bored. I can make all the excuses in the world, but that is the bottom line. He will find the absolute worst possible way to entertain himself. I know this and yet I keep making the same mistakes over and over.
Case in point, this weekend my favorite dressage judge is in town, so I signed up for three lessons. I was thinking that because he was going to be working hard this weekend I would keep things light so he would be fresh going into the clinic.
He got last Thursday off then we did a walk trot ride on Friday and a walk trot canter ride Saturday. He ended up with Sunday off because it rained when I had time to ride and stopped raining when I had to be at work (I was grumpy about that). Monday we just walked on the hills. Tuesday morning I was planning on doing an hour of hill work again until I got to the barn.
I got there at 5 since I had an early meeting at work, when I walked in someone had left the radio playing Christmas music and I thought it was kinda cute walking into the dark, quiet barn, with soft Christmas music. That was until I also heard the sound of water running.
My first thought was please please please please don't be my horse. My wishes were not granted. He had turned on his freaking water hose. His entire stall had 1-2 inches of standing water. At this point I didn't dare look at any of the other stalls. It had run into the barn isle and down the hall and out the back doors (the barn has a slight downward slope from the front to the back).
I immediately started dreading having to text S and tell her my asshole horse made a giant mess. Since it was five and I didn't want to wake her up with that text I had to wait. I waited until 6:30 in hopes that she would have had her coffee but not be at the barn yet. Thankfully, she was super sweet about it and didn't even blink about the fact that two other stalls had water in them.
Stinker on the other hand is not getting a light week anymore. He was excellent for his ride and I managed to let go of my anger at him long enough to ride him. I am still grumpy at him. He has toys in his stall, he still had lots of hay in his hay net, and he could have played with his freaking halter that was on the front of his stall. There were plenty of other things to amuse himself with besides the freaking water spigot. On the bright side he has another board blocking it now (he tore the previous one down...).
Case in point, this weekend my favorite dressage judge is in town, so I signed up for three lessons. I was thinking that because he was going to be working hard this weekend I would keep things light so he would be fresh going into the clinic.
Dis face lies! It is all trouble
He got last Thursday off then we did a walk trot ride on Friday and a walk trot canter ride Saturday. He ended up with Sunday off because it rained when I had time to ride and stopped raining when I had to be at work (I was grumpy about that). Monday we just walked on the hills. Tuesday morning I was planning on doing an hour of hill work again until I got to the barn.
I got there at 5 since I had an early meeting at work, when I walked in someone had left the radio playing Christmas music and I thought it was kinda cute walking into the dark, quiet barn, with soft Christmas music. That was until I also heard the sound of water running.
He needs more days like this
My first thought was please please please please don't be my horse. My wishes were not granted. He had turned on his freaking water hose. His entire stall had 1-2 inches of standing water. At this point I didn't dare look at any of the other stalls. It had run into the barn isle and down the hall and out the back doors (the barn has a slight downward slope from the front to the back).
I immediately started dreading having to text S and tell her my asshole horse made a giant mess. Since it was five and I didn't want to wake her up with that text I had to wait. I waited until 6:30 in hopes that she would have had her coffee but not be at the barn yet. Thankfully, she was super sweet about it and didn't even blink about the fact that two other stalls had water in them.
And maybe it is just because I do things like this to him and he needs his revenge...
Stinker on the other hand is not getting a light week anymore. He was excellent for his ride and I managed to let go of my anger at him long enough to ride him. I am still grumpy at him. He has toys in his stall, he still had lots of hay in his hay net, and he could have played with his freaking halter that was on the front of his stall. There were plenty of other things to amuse himself with besides the freaking water spigot. On the bright side he has another board blocking it now (he tore the previous one down...).
Monday, December 5, 2016
Little Things
Right now my rides are pretty boring, because we are working on the same things every single day. So sometimes you have to take a moment and appreciate the little things in life. This weekend, it was the fact that I opened and closed a gate without getting off Stinker.
We won't be winning any trail classes with our skills, but I am quite proud of the fact that my horse moves off my leg well enough and doesn't get freaked out by me leaning off to the side to open and close a gate. Sure the standing while latching/unlatching was a struggle, but standing in general is a struggle. And yes he was a pain in the butt and turned and shoved the gate back open while I was trying to reach for the chain to latch it. Yep, my horse is an ass because I swear he grinned after he did it.
We won't be winning any trail classes with our skills, but I am quite proud of the fact that my horse moves off my leg well enough and doesn't get freaked out by me leaning off to the side to open and close a gate. Sure the standing while latching/unlatching was a struggle, but standing in general is a struggle. And yes he was a pain in the butt and turned and shoved the gate back open while I was trying to reach for the chain to latch it. Yep, my horse is an ass because I swear he grinned after he did it.
Friday, December 2, 2016
December Training Schedule
I am going to try and set a schedule this month for several reasons. One, I am neurotic and like to plan. Two, I really liked the by the numbers from last month. Three, it is a busy month and see number one.
I have been working really hard on increasing the amount we trot, but when looking at last month on average there was 30 minutes per ride with stirrups (excluding the rides that were completely without stirrups). This means that we did less than 15 minutes per ride of trot based on my estimates and that was only 10 rides out of 21. The bottom line is I am really not doing that much trot.
I can't expect his trot to improve if I am not doing it. So the plan for December is to really focus on the trot and making it better. Hopefully, I don't ruin the walk in the process with him anticipating trotting. I intend to ride him six days a week until the end of the month and then I want to give him a week off. Of course, he may have other plans and if he starts flooding the barn and what not he will go back to work.
My goal is to trot a little bit every single day. I will still keep three days lighter and keep him out of the ring so hopefully his brain stay intact. In addition to still warming up without stirrups I am hoping to add two point back in. He needs to learn that he can function without my ass.
In other news I got the all ears selfie app and it was a massive flop. The most I got was a quick ear flick forward with one ear. Not. Even. Both. Ears. My super reactive curious horse did not even blink at the donkeys or wrappers or snorting. And to make things better, I played the wrapper noise and got no reaction, then crinkled an actual wrapper and immediately got his attention. Once again my horse is smarter than me...
I have been working really hard on increasing the amount we trot, but when looking at last month on average there was 30 minutes per ride with stirrups (excluding the rides that were completely without stirrups). This means that we did less than 15 minutes per ride of trot based on my estimates and that was only 10 rides out of 21. The bottom line is I am really not doing that much trot.
Needs more practice with human
I can't expect his trot to improve if I am not doing it. So the plan for December is to really focus on the trot and making it better. Hopefully, I don't ruin the walk in the process with him anticipating trotting. I intend to ride him six days a week until the end of the month and then I want to give him a week off. Of course, he may have other plans and if he starts flooding the barn and what not he will go back to work.
My goal is to trot a little bit every single day. I will still keep three days lighter and keep him out of the ring so hopefully his brain stay intact. In addition to still warming up without stirrups I am hoping to add two point back in. He needs to learn that he can function without my ass.
In other news I got the all ears selfie app and it was a massive flop. The most I got was a quick ear flick forward with one ear. Not. Even. Both. Ears. My super reactive curious horse did not even blink at the donkeys or wrappers or snorting. And to make things better, I played the wrapper noise and got no reaction, then crinkled an actual wrapper and immediately got his attention. Once again my horse is smarter than me...
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